Rain and Brimstone
Once she'd closed the door to her room, Lineth rooted around in her pack for a bit until she found a long, very crinkled nightdress. She took off her armour, and slid the dress over her underclothes. She sniffed her arm and winced - she smelled quite a lot like armour polish.
One more thing, Lineth thought just before she got into bed. She reached into her bag once more and withdrew her sword.
It was long, and razor-sharp. White light glimmered at the paper-thin tip and just above the jewelled hilt. Rumour had it the sword had been blessed by Lathander himself, but the God of Spring didn't hold much with cutting people open. Lineth pulled a chair next to her bed and placed her sword, within easy reach, upon it.
For some reason she had trouble sleeping this night. Her thoughts dwelt briefly upon the satirical words uttered by her and her friends today, and she smiled. It was good to be among friendly faces, even if those faces were constantly trading barbs.
Her smile faded as her thoughts drifted to a ...less friendly face.
A handsome one, certainly, but with wrinkles where the constant frowning had taken its toll. A face framed by locks of crimson hair, a pair of glowing blue eyes...
Lineth drifted off to sleep with the face held like a precious thing in her mind's eye.
BOOM.
The sound jarred Lineth from her dreamless sleep, some hours later. At first she thought she was imaging it and groaned, rolling over and stuffing a pillow sleepily over her head.
BOOM.
The sound was repeated, louder. Lineth sat up, suddenly alert. Her keen Elven eyes took a moment to adjust to the darkness of her room, but the glowing silhouette of her sword was clearly visible. Lineth lunged and caught it, standing on sleepy, uncertain feet.
She crept forward and opened her door. The hallway was empty, lightless and silent. The banging was coming from downstairs.
BOOM.
Lineth shivered as she left her room, walking quickly and silently. Her sword cast an eerie glow along the floor. She descended the stairs, but on the third step, it let out a loud creak. She stood illuminated by her sword, holding her breath.
No one rushed at her from the shadows. No one struck at her from behind.
She resumed her slow progress down the stairs. The pounding came again, faster.
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
Three times. Someone - or something - was pounding on the front door!
The next few moments passed in a blur. Lineth took the last few steps in a flying leap, landed on her side, rolled upright and into a fighting stance as soon as her bare feet hit the cold floorboards.
At the same moment, the door burst open.
A shower of snow and ice hit Lineth directly in the face. She gasped and staggered back as the snow poured in from outside, the white stuff covering the WELCOME doormat. A tall form stood silhouetted in the whiteness, looming over Lineth like some huge stone monolith.
She raised her sword and peered through stinging, watering eyes, ignoring the snow by her feet. The figure lurched forward, and to Lineth's surprise, turned its back as it fought to heave the door closed.
The figure finally managed to wrestle the wood shut against the torrent of snow, and leaned against it. Lineth fancied she could hear it gasping.
She renewed her numb grip on her sword as he - it had to be a he, no woman was that big - turned back to her. Lineth gasped as she saw he held a small, crumpled form in its arms, and gasped again as she recognized it.
She rushed forward. The large figure did not resist as she wrested the stricken Deekin from its arms.
She lowered the kobold to the floor. He was stiff with cold and his normally red wings had turned a sickening blue. Lineth closed her eyes and raised her hands, summoning forth all her magical power.
She felt it flow through her, from the backs of her eyeballs to the tips of her toes, until finally it sparked off her fingertips. The words came with it, ancient words of power, words to invoke healing and mending and warmth. Blue and gold light shot from her outspread hands, and flowed into Deekin's recumbent form.
The kobold coughed once, twice, and then settled back with a contented sigh. The colour leeched back into his wings as they twitched and wrapped around his shivering form.
Lineth leaned back on her haunches, exhausted. She'd forgotten about the strange man as soon as she'd laid eyes on Deekin, and had dropped her sword. She realized she was entirely defenceless if whoever it was decided to attack before she could retrieve her sword from several meters away.
She looked up at the figure.
He was wearing a hood, and a dark and heavy cloak over his armour. As she watched, though, gauntleted hands rose and the hood was slowly lowered.
Lineth breathed out, feeling weak.
"Valen?"